Location | Ballymena, Northern Ireland |
---|---|
Owner | Mid and East Antrim Borough Council |
Capacity | 4,100 (Safe capacity: 3,600) [1] |
Surface | Grass pitch |
Construction | |
Opened | 1903 |
Renovated | 2010 |
Tenants | |
Ballymena United F.C. Ballymena United Women F.C. |
The Ballymena Showgrounds is a football stadium in Ballymena, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is home to Ballymena United F.C. and Ballymena United Women F.C. It is owned by Mid and East Antrim Borough Council. In addition to men's football a variety of other sports and events are held at the stadium and surrounding facilities, including women's association football, field hockey, and, formerly, stock car racing. [2]
The stadium was redeveloped in 2001 at a cost of £30m. This reconstruction included the building of a new stand and new dressing room facilities. In 2010 the Warden Street stand was redeveloped to all-seater standard with a new capacity of 2,200 seats. The stadium now holds 4,100 spectators, but is limited to 3,600 due to health and safety.
Home to Ballymena United
The New Stand replaced the old 'Clock Stand' which ran parallel to the side of the pitch and was knocked down in 2001, in preparation for the new construction. The stand incorporates approximately sixteen changing rooms, offices and bars - as well as press and corporate facilities.
The first game it was open to the public was an Ulster Cup tie against Carrick Rangers in August 2002; however was officially unveiled a month later with the glamour friendly with Bolton Wanderers.
Home supporters are situated in this stand, as they use the turnstiles at the social club to enter the ground.
The stand cost £3million pounds to build, and as yet has not been officially named despite prolonged debate by the council who have recently proposed selling the naming rights to local businesses, although the fans thoughts that the 'New Stand' should be renamed 'The Norman McBurney Stand' after the Ballymena born owner of haulage company McBurney Transport.
It cost £250,000 to construct and was used for the first time in a 2–0 defeat in a Tyler Cup game against Shamrock Rovers in July, 1980.
The stand, which is now used to hold visiting supporters has a seating capacity of just over 1,200. The stand was used to house the home supporters until the opening of the new grandstand in 2002.
In front of the stand is terracing which can hold around 2,000 standing spectators. The dug-outs also sit in front of this stand.
United's PA Announcer - Davy "Kingo" King can be found in this stand, as when he's not covering games live for local radio station - SevenFM from the old press box, he's playing his unique collection of records over the tannoy.
It has been revealed that there has been announcements that the stand is going to be completely refurbished to bring its seating capacity up to 2,200, the work shall commence on 14 January 2010 in which the terracing shall be removed and replaced by seating the roof shall also be replaced and the seats replaced.
This work has now been completed and the new stand was first used in a 3–1 home victory for Ballymena United F.C over Portadown F.C on 16 October 2010.
With aid of grants from the Sports Council, Ballymena United have erected a security control tower which will be used by the police and United stewards to monitor behaviour at the Showgrounds.
This section is empty. You can help by adding to it. (January 2016) |
Home to Northend United Youth FC. Probably the best youth academy in the borough.
Home to Carniny Amateur and Youth FC Football Development Centre http://www.carninyyouthfc.co.uk
Home to Ballymena United FC Youth Academy Football Development Centre
Home to Carniny Youth FC NIBFA National League Teams and Carniny Amateurs II, Ballymena and Provincial Junior Div 2 team.
Up until 2019 Stock car racing was run at Ballymena on select Friday evenings from Good Friday until the end of September, with many Championship races taking place throughout the season including hosting the ORCi Stock Rod Championship of the World on multiple occasions.
Racing at the track was originally promoted by hot rod driver Ernie Kilpatrick and Robert Mathers in 1977. At that time it was the third stock car track in Northern Ireland, the other two being Aghadowey Oval and Shamrock Park in Portadown. In 2007 the Raceway celebrated its 30th anniversary which featured a celebratory race meeting featuring many famous retired drivers, along with guest drivers from other forms of motorsport, most notably FIA World Rally Championship driver Kris Meeke who tried his hand at racing a National Hot Rod.
In 2019 racing at the venue ceased due to dwindling attendance and complaints from the football club about damage to the pitch caused by racing.
Portadown Football Club is a semi-professional Northern Irish football club who play in the NIFL Premiership.
Ballymena United Football Club is a semi-professional football club from Northern Ireland. Based in Ballymena, County Antrim, the team competes in the NIFL Premiership and plays home matches at the Ballymena Showgrounds. The club has been managed by former captain Jim Ervin since 2023.
Crusaders Football Club is a semi-professional Northern Irish football club playing in the NIFL Premiership. The club, founded in 1898, is based in north Belfast and plays its home matches at Seaview.
Wakehurst Football Club are a Northern Irish, intermediate football club who currently play in the Ballymena & Provincial Football League. The club, founded in 1969, hails from Ballymena, although home matches are played at Moyola Park's ground at Mill Meadow. Wakehurst formerly played at the second pitch at the Ballymena Showgrounds, home of Ballymena United, but for 2009–10 this pitch was deemed not to meet the criteria for the Championship, and home games were played at the ground of Tobermore United in Tobermore, County Londonderry, for that season; Wakehurst moved to Castledawson for 2010–11. It is the club's intention eventually to return to Ballymena. In 2016, the club was relegated from the Northern Ireland Football League and spent a season in the Ballymena & Provincial Football League before announcing their withdrawal from the competition.
The Showgrounds is a stadium in Sligo, Ireland, which has been home of Sligo Rovers since the club was formed in 1928.
Dalymount Park is a football stadium in Phibsborough on the Northside of Dublin, Ireland.
The Oval is a football stadium in Belfast, Northern Ireland, which has been home to Glentoran F.C. since 1892.
Tallaght Stadium is an association football stadium in the Republic of Ireland based in Tallaght, South Dublin. The club Shamrock Rovers originally announced details of the stadium in July, 1996. The stadium is now owned and operated by South Dublin County Council with Shamrock Rovers as the anchor tenants.
Cappielow, also known as Cappielow Park supported by Dalrada Technology UK for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium in Greenock, Inverclyde, Scotland. It is the home ground of Scottish Professional Football League club Greenock Morton, who have played there since 1879. It has a capacity of 11,589, including 5,741 seats. The ground was formerly also shared by Clydebank between 1999 and 2002. Cappielow has staged one full international match, Scotland against Wales in 1902.
York Street, also known as The Jakemans Stadium for sponsorship purposes, is a football stadium in Boston, England, and was the former home of Boston United. Originally called Shodfriars Lane, football was first played on the site since the late 19th century by a variety of Boston teams, but it was only used by Boston United since 1933. In the late 1970s the ground was rebuilt. Although the ground currently had a maximum capacity of 6,643, the record crowd was 11,000 against Derby County. 10 further attendances of more than 8,000 are on record. Boston United left the York Street ground at the end of the 2019/20 season. In August 2021 Railway Athletic FC moved into the stadium.
Oakwell is a multi-purpose sports ground in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England used by Barnsley Football Club for home fixtures, and those of their reserves. As of 2023, the Barnsley F.C. Women's team also play at the stadium.
Mourneview Park is a football stadium in Lurgan, County Armagh, Northern Ireland, and is the home ground of NIFL Premiership club Glenavon. The stadium holds 4,160 and was originally built in 1895. The 2008–09 Irish League Cup, 2010–11 Irish League Cup and 2020-21 Irish Cup finals were held at the stadium.
Shamrock Park is a football stadium in Portadown, County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It is the home ground of Portadown F.C. Shamrock Park was previously used for stock-car racing, but this has since been discontinued. The stadium is classed as an all-seater stadium but has only two seated stands around the pitch totaling 2,770 seats, with one side containing a training pitch and the other having an older seated stand which is no longer in use. When grant aid is available, the older stand will be demolished and replaced with a brand new seated stand.
Matthew John Tipton is a Welsh football manager and former professional player who most recently managed NIFL Championship side Ards.
The 2009 Milk Cup Tournament edition was a prestigious association football tournament divided into three categories: Elite, Premier, and Junior for differing age groups. It ran between 27 and 31 July.
The 2010 Northern Ireland Youth Soccer Tournament was the 2010 edition of a prestigious youth association football tournament that has been running annually since 1983. Teams from around the world competed in a week-long tournament in the North Coast area of Northern Ireland. The teams were divided into three categories: Elite, Premier, and Junior for Under-19s, Under-17s and Under-15s respectively. The 2010 Milk Cup Tournament ran between the 26 and 30 July 2010, with Northern Ireland (Elite), Manchester United (Premier) and Everton (Junior) all returning to defend their 2009 titles.
The 2012 Northern Ireland Milk Cup is the 30th edition of the international football tournament which takes place annually in the north coast of Northern Ireland, and attracts competitors from across the globe. There are three sections to the tournament, the Elite Section (U19), the Premier Section (U17) and the Junior Section (U15).
BriSCA Formula 2 Stock Cars is a class of single seater auto racing in the UK. Cars are custom-built and race on oval tracks of either shale or tarmac of up to a quarter-mile in length. The tracks they race on are surrounded by either steel plate or post and wire fences to keep the cars on the track. Racing involves contact, drivers are allowed to push, punt or spin fellow competitors out of the way. The cars are very strong and are of an open wheel design, but are designed with the contact element in mind, with front and rear bumpers and a sturdy chassis and roll cage.
Ballymena United Women Football Club is a women's association football club based in Ballymena, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. They were founded in 1994 as Allstars F.C. before amalgamating with Ballymena United F.C. to become their women's team in 2003. The club currently plays in the Women's Premiership and play their home matches at Ballymena Showgrounds